Are You Too Political? (Gal 1-3)

"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Are you being influenced by the people around you, by their beliefs? Well, Cephas (also called Peter) was influenced by the Jews' circumcision party once even though Cephas probably saw many miracles and how God poured down the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles! Why was he influenced by them? Because he became a bit too political even though he was probably just a common men! Maybe he was influenced after years of leadership, which caused him to forgot who he was and how God had brought him up! Let's take a look at what Cephas had done:

"He was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy." That's what I call RELIGIOUS not RELATIONSHIP. Instead of remaining under the Spirit, they are led by the law. So they were afraid and they step aside to act as if they followed the religious law. They wanted to be one of those prominent leader figures or rather like those Barbie we used to play with.

I love how Paul confronted them! Paul was like an outsider because he didn't know any of the apostles except James the Lord's brother. He wasn't influenced by the other prominent leaders at all, so I think this gave him the ability to be tough about this issue and so he confronted, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" The circumcision party took over and forced the Gentiles to circumcise themselves like a Jew because Peter and others became a bit too political as they step aside into the circumcision party.

Are you following Jesus' example like Paul did? Are you willingly to be less political by becoming a better advocate for the lost and broken people?